Miami Dolphins aim high, win big with Tua Tagovailoa, team’s 1st franchise QB since Marino | Opinion
The Miami Dolphins aimed high, took the risk and hit big with their top pick in Thursday night’s NFL Draft.
In a virtual draft, in the middle of a pandemic, for all the sports-starved world to see, the Dolphins just got their first true difference-making, game-changing franchise quarterback since Dan Marino arrived in 1983.
If they weren’t social-distancing against the coronavirus/COVID-19 scourge, Dolfans would surely be hugging and chest-bumping like never before.
The NFL Draft delivers hope and possibility, and, at a time when we could all use some of that, Miami just got a big dose.
Welcome to Miami, Tua Tagovailoa.
His first words as a Dolphin, on the call with the news: “It was a dream come true, man.”
The Dolphins brain trust of owner Stephen Ross, general manager Chris Grier and coach Brian Flores got it right this time.
They gambled. They bet on Tua. They bet on his accuracy and immense potential. They bet on his ability to be durable and stay healthy. They bet on themselves. They dared to be bold, to aim as high as they possibly could.
And because of it, for the first time since the reign of Marino, there is real hope for Dolphins fans again. There is a chance again.
Marino’s No. 13 jersey is retired. Tagovailoa wears 13, too. No worries.
“I understand 13 is retired and should be,” he said. “He’s the G.O.A.T.”
There is some feeling the Dolphins will not rush Tagovailoa as a rookie. His own expectations?
“I’m going to go out here and compete as if I’m preparing to be the starter,” he said. “I’m trying to prove this is the right decision for the organization.”
For a franchise snakebit for so long, the third time proved to be that proverbial charm.
In 2006, the Dolphins had a big quarterback decision to make and got it spectacularly wrong. The choice in free agency was Daunte Culpepper or Drew Brees. The brain trust of owner Wayne Huizenga, GM Randy Mueller and coach Nick Saban, based on faulty medical advice, picked the guy who would not be going to the Hall of Fame. (Would Saban have ever left for Alabama had Miami made the right choice?)
In 2008, the Dolphins had another big decision to make. A second chance. Holding the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, they could have anybody they wanted. And the brain trust of owner Stephen Ross, executive VP Bill Parcells, GM Jeff Ireland and coach Tony Sparano wanted offensive tackle Jake Long. (Would another Hall of Fame-bound QB, Matt Ryan, still be leading Miami today had the Fins chosen him instead?)
Miami played its safe in 2006, hiding behind their team doctors.
Miami played it safe again in ’08, hiding behind their almighty draft-board grades.
Miami did not play it safe in 2020. On Thursday night, it did the opposite. The Fins could have hidden behind an overabundance of caution and drafted the “safer” Justin Herbert (who went sixth overall to the Los Angeles Chargers), but instead the rolled dice that Tagovailoa’s injury history, including November hip surgery, would not be a recurring issue.
“I’m delighted they made that decision,” Saban said Thursday night. “This guy can do it all. This guys’ going to be a great player in the NFL for a long time.”
There is no guarantee they made the right choice. No matter.
They made the choice they should have made, swinging for the fences with a generational talent rather than bunting with an inferior option. Rather than settling.
There will be massive, loud second guessing and hindsight derision should Tagovailao’s proneness to injury continue in the pros.
None of it will come from me.
The NFL careers of Tagovailoa and Herbert will naturally be compared for years, and I’ll be surprised if they are even comparable.
I’ll be surprised if the exciting, dynamic kid from Saban’s Crimson Tide stable doesn’t prove clearly better.
The Dolphins had approached Cincinnati about trading up for the No. 1 overall pick and Joe Burrow, but — as fully expected — were rebuffed. That was never going to happen.
There also was nefarious speculation Miami might trade up from the fifth to the third pick, not for a better shot at their quarterback — but for an offensive tackle. This rumor was cringe-worthy. The Fins would have deservedly been a laughingstock had they done such a thing. Tanking for a Tackle?
Instead, the Dolphins stuck at No. 5 and stuck with Tua despite all the medical drama.
It was a draft unlike another, for the NFL, and for Miami.
“The first virtual NFL Draft,” commissioner Roger Goodell called it, reading the picks from a basement den in his New York home. “This is different for us. It’s different for you. Because it has to be.”
There was a moment of silence for the many thousands who have died from COVID-19. The national anthem was sung against a backdrop of healthcare heroes, front-liners in the fight.
For Miami, it was the first time in franchise history, in 55 drafts, that the Dolphins had three first-round picks, with the 18th and 26th overall coming from Houston and Pittsburgh in the “tanking” trades of left tackle Laremy Tunsil and defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick.
The Fins picked Southern Cal offensive tackle Austin Jackson 18th overall, a position of great need, but a player most mock drafts forecast as a second-round talent.
Miami traded down from the 26th pick to the 30th to gain an additional later selection. At No. 30 the Fins picked Auburn cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, a curious pick, a player not seen in many mock first-round projections, and with cornerback not a position of particular need for Miami.
Miami hadn’t even had two first round picks in 28 years, since 1992. And the team’s 14 overall draft selections this year’s three-day draft are the team‘s most since 1997.
That meant the Dolphins on Thursday night had the nation’s attention, and the pressure, and the possibility, on them for the first time in a long time.
They did not shrink from the moment.
They seized it.
In the calculated, smart, risk-reward gamble on Tua Taglovailoa, the Dolphins won the first round, and earned a ton of faith from a fan base desperate to finally believe again.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 9:43 PM.
